The Bible Recap - Day 243 (Ezekiel 16-17) - Year 6

Starting point is 00:00:00 Hey Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble and I'm your host for The Bible Recap. Today in chapter 16, God tells Ezekiel an extended metaphor about his relationship with Israel. And while the overall point of the metaphor is clear, every commentary I read cautioned against getting into the weeds with this metaphor, simply because every comparison breaks down at some level. So we'll just look at it through the lens of regular glasses, not a microscope, because that's how most metaphors and parables are intended to be received. So here's what we're looking at. Israel is an abandoned orphan,

Starting point is 00:00:40 unloved and left to die. But then someone, the king of the universe by the way, rescues this orphan and nurses her back to health. He uses 19 verbs to describe all he does for the orphan when he rescues her. I passed by you, I saw you, I said to you, live. I made you flourish. I spread the corner of my garment over you. I covered your nakedness. I made my vow to you. I entered into a covenant with you. I bathed you with water. I washed off your blood. I anointed you with oil. I clothed you with embroidered cloth. I shod you with fine leather. I wrapped you in fine linen. I covered you with silk. I adorned you with garments. I put bracelets

Starting point is 00:01:21 on your wrists and a chain on your neck. I put a ring on your nose and earrings in your ears and a beautiful crown on your head. I bestowed splendor on you." But eventually, she loves the King's gifts more than the King himself. And because of his care for her, she's beautiful. So she trusts in her beauty to get her whatever she wants. She uses all the King's gifts to lure in other lovers. She makes idols out of them. And in a devastating turn of events, she forgets that she was once the helpless child who was

Starting point is 00:01:52 rescued, and she ends up sacrificing her own children. Her idolatry becomes unsatisfying, but instead of turning away from it, she dives in deeper. Idolatry always demands more, making us needier and more frantic and insecure. She goes from being a prostitute who receives gifts from her lovers to one who is so desperate for love and security that she gives them gifts to keep them around. In verse 41, God says he's about to put a stop to it all. His judgment for her sins will bring them to a screeching halt. He says her sins are even worse than those of Sodom and Gomorrah. And notice what God says was the

Starting point is 00:02:29 root of Sodom's big problem? We tend to only pay attention to how their problem manifested in one specific way, but as always, God gets down to the heart of the issue. So what was the heart of Sodom's issue? In verses 49 through 50, God says, "'Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom. She and her daughters had pride, excess of food and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy. They were haughty and did an abomination before me,

Starting point is 00:02:58 so I removed them.'" God addresses their other sins elsewhere in scripture like in Genesis 19 and Jude 1-7, and he doesn't ignore their sexual sin here either. He addresses the abomination they did, but he attaches their actions to their attitudes, to their pride and arrogance. God is always digging deeper.

Starting point is 00:03:17 And of course, that pride and arrogance manifested in other areas besides their sexual sin. And God points those out here too. He had given them so much, but they lived in luxury without caring for the poor and needy. And in the midst of all this, God says Jerusalem is worse than Sodom, and He promises to punish her for her sin,

Starting point is 00:03:37 a punishment that looks a lot like death. But He still promises to restore her fortunes in the future. In chapter 17, we read a parable that would normally call for glasses, but let's put down our glasses and pull out some binoculars because this one's about a bird. God says a big eagle, who is King Nebbe of Babylon, plucks up a shoot like a tiny vine and drops it down again and it grows into a tall vine. The shoot is King Chin, the one who surrendered to King Nebi, was captured and then provided for all the days of his life. We read that story in 2 Kings 24 and 25. So we can see how the imagery

Starting point is 00:04:13 fits. The eagle plucking up a shoot and dropping it down and having it grow tall. Then King Nebi does a little more gardening, planting King Zedekiah in Judah to handle things. But unlike the first vine, King Chin, King Zedekiah and Judah to handle things. But unlike the first vine, King Chin, King Zedekiah reaches out to a different eagle, Egypt, who happens to be flying overhead. King Zedekiah is hoping to be plucked up and transplanted, but instead he'll just wither and die. Egypt is not God's appointed eagle.

Starting point is 00:04:40 God promised all of this a long time ago. He sent Jeremiah to warn the kings of Judah to surrender to Babylon if they wanted to survive. It sounds completely illogical, but it was his plan. And only King Chin followed the plan, albeit probably out of fear, not surrender. Everyone else looked for a different escape route than the one God commanded, and they got what God promised, judgment and exile. But God kept his promise to bless, too. King Chin thrived, even amidst half-hearted obedience, because God is merciful.

Starting point is 00:05:13 God wraps up the parable by saying He Himself will plant a sprig on the lofty mountains of Israel, and it will grow up into a cedar that will bear fruit and make shade and be a home for all kinds of birds. This is a reference to the Messiah and the coming kingdom. And God promises his prophecy will be fulfilled. My God shot today was at the end of chapter 16, right after God reprimands Israel for playing the whore and being worse than Sodom. Israel has despised God and broken the covenant.

Starting point is 00:05:42 And do you know what his response is? He leans in. He broadens and widens and deepens his relationship with his people by expanding the covenant. They broke the conditional covenant, so he made an eternal one. They've forgotten the covenant, but he says he will remember it.

Starting point is 00:05:59 They've sinned against him. And in verse 63, he says, he will atone for their sins. He will cover the cost himself. Do you see him tipping them off to the plan for the arrival of Jesus on the scene here? This has been his plan all along to restore his people to himself. God's excessive love is shocking and praise-inducing. He's where the joy is. and praise-inducing. He's where the joy is. Each month, we offer special bonus content to our ReCaptains.

Starting point is 00:06:30 For the month of August, we're offering three bonus episodes where I talk about the Sabbath and learning to abide and rest in Christ. We've sent this to our ReCaptains who have joined at the bonus content tier or higher. If that's you, just log into your ReCaptains account to get your perks. Or if you've selected to have your perks emailed to you, you can look for it there. If you're a ReCaptain at a different tier and you want access to this perk, just log into your account and adjust your membership accordingly. Easy peasy.

Starting point is 00:06:57 And if you're not yet a ReCaptain, that too is easy peasy. And it's not too late to join us and get August bonus content. Click the ReCaptains link in our website at TheBibleRecap.com or click the link in the show notes.

The Bible Recap - Day 243 (Ezekiel 16-17) - Year 6

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